This issue of Directions in Global Health features PATH’s Sure Start project, which helped to improve maternal and newborn health in India. Other articles cover strategies to eliminate malaria, advocacy and communications to improve tuberculosis control, a landmark vaccine introduction in Ghana, and a new child-health initiative in southern Africa.

The Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP)—endorsed by the 194 Member States of the World Health Assembly in May 2012—is a roadmap to prevent millions of deaths by 2020 through more equitable access to vaccines for people in all communities. The GVAP aims to strengthen routine immunization, introduce new and improved vaccines, and advance research and development for the next generation of vaccines and technologies.

Diarrhoea Dialogues: From Policies to Progress reviews national policies and strategies to control diarrhea in three African countries: Ethiopia, Mali, and Zambia. The report provides recommendations based on research findings and calls for global and national decision-makers to take coordinated action to overcome challenges and address diarrhea by engaging in dialogue and working together to save lives.

This fact sheet provides an overview of PATH's ongoing work in Cambodia to integrate diarrhea and pneumonia control. At the national level, PATH collaborated with the Cambodia Ministry of Health to strengthen policy so that effective interventions and appropriate and reliable supplies are made available throughout the public- and private-health sectors as well as in the community to reduce the burden of diarrheal disease and pneumonia among children in Cambodia. PATH also worked on a district-level demonstration project to put policy into practice and inform expansion throughout the country. Through this integrated approach to community health, Cambodia is addressing the two most dangerous threats to its children and is already making a significant and lasting impact.

The Cold Chain Equipment Manager (CCEM) is a Microsoft Access–based software tool. It is accompanied by a user manual, data collection questionnaires, a surveyor’s guide to these questionnaires, and an equipment identification guide. CCEM also comes with practice files, providing new users with practice data to demonstrate how CCEM will analyze cold chain equipment data and facilitate multiyear equipment planning. CCEM version 2.1 is available for download (see below) or, to request a copy on CD, email CCEMinfo@path.org.

Facilitated by project Optimize, a World Health Organization and PATH collaboration, this review was conducted in the Western Cape of South Africa whereby the Biovac Institute (a third-party, private-sector company) took over the roles of vaccine procurement, warehouse management, inventory management, and vaccine distribution directly to health centers.

This edition of PATH Today features our work to protect children from diarrheal disease, the use of mobile devices to diagnose tuberculosis and improve maternal health, and a profile of PATH donor Ann Hayes. The issue also provides information about our yearly reports to donors, workplace and planned giving, and the results of the meningitis vaccine campaign launch in sub-Saharan Africa.

Childhood pneumonia and diarrheal disease are the two leading causes of preventable deaths among children under the age of five in Cambodia and around the world. This fact sheet gives an overview of how PATH is working on an integrated approach to the prevention and treatment of these two illnesses in Cambodia.

This briefing paper provides an overview of the tools and interventions involved with an integrated approach to diarrheal disease control, including vaccines, oral rehydration, breastfeeding, and zinc treatment. The document also advocates for renewed commitment at global, regional, and national levels.

This issue of Directions in Global Health features PATH’s work related to vaccines and immunization. Articles cover the development and introduction of a vaccine to eliminate epidemic meningitis in Africa, use of vaccines and other interventions to prevent cervical cancer, transformation of vaccine distribution systems, expansion of access to rotavirus vaccines, and advancements in vaccine technologies.

This manual provides a suggested standardized methodology for implementing the Vesikari Clinical Severity Scoring System across rotavirus vaccine studies. It provides details on scoring system parameters, identifies implementation challenges, and presents instructions for collecting symptom information and using the accompanying template Case Report Form and diary cards.

This market assessment aims to increase the awareness of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies worldwide about the opportunities and potential markets that exist for low-cost and effective vaccines against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). In addition, it provides donors and commercial investors with a better understanding of the potential risks, rewards, and gaps in knowledge relative to these opportunities as they consider their own investment strategies. The resulting analysis demonstrates that ETEC vaccines may represent a moderate opportunity for industry investment with an estimated annual revenue potential of more than US$600 million ten years after global launch.

PATH has worked to improve maternal and child health, nutrition, and family planning in developing countries for more than 30 years. This brochure describes our integrated approach to reach mothers, children, and communities with key innovations for strong futures.

This edition of PATH Today highlights work to improve children’s health in Nicaragua and Kenya and spotlights PATH's safe water project in Korogocho, a slum near Nairobi, Kenya. It also includes brief updates on the 2009 Breakfast for Global Health, workplace giving, an influenza vaccine study in Africa, and PATH's 2008 annual report.

Diarrheal Disease: Solutions to Defeat a Global Killer presents scientific evidence to support strategies to scale up use of interventions, including safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene, breastfeeding and optimal complementary feeding, rotavirus vaccines, zinc treatment, and oral rehydration therapy/oral rehydration solution. In addition, the report features case studies of on-the-ground programs that bring these tools to communities that need them most. The document is available as one large file or as three smaller files for easier downloading.

This issue of Directions in Global Health describes PATH's work to control and prevent diarrheal disease, reach out to young scouts in Kenya and Uganda with HIV/AIDS information, assess the impact of malaria control efforts in Zambia, conduct DHS surveys, and shape HPV vaccine introduction in Peru.

Fifteen strains of Escherichia coli from various geographical areas, animal, and soil sources were tested on standard and nonstandard detection assays at temperatures from 23°C to 45°C to test the viability of currently available E. coli tests in low-resource settings. Presented at the American Society for Microbiology Conference, June 1, 2008; Boston, MA.